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you can't beat a trump...

FRC President Tony Perkins informed The Christian Post Wednesday that Trump, the current frontrunner among Republican presidential candidates, will not be attending FRC's Sept. 25-27 Values Voters Summit, even though other leading Republican candidates are scheduled to speak.

Although some polls have shown that the misogynistic real estate mogul who once favored abortion and carries liberal views on same-sex marriage has had no trouble gaining the support of Evangelicals, Perkins asserted that Trump's refusal to speak at the conference is a sign that he has no interest in conversing with Evangelicals.

"We have got the Values Voters Summit coming up and Donald Trump has passed. He is not going to come," Perkins said. "I think that is going to send a message to Evangelicals and values voters that he wants their support, but he is not really interested in having a conversation with them."

"I think that is probably about the time, in about three or four weeks, people are going to start thinking more seriously about this as we move forward into the year," Perkins continued. "[Trump's absense], whether it was intended to or not, it will send a message."

Despite Trump's inconsistent stances on social issues and his recent unwillingness to state his favorite Bible verse, Trump appears to be in good standing with Evangelical voters at the moment.

Trump finished first among white Republican-leaning Evangelical voters with 20 percent in a July Washington Post-ABC News national primary poll. A recent Monmouth University poll of Evangelical voters in Iowa has Trump in second behind retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson with 23 percent of the Evangelical vote.

Perkins feels that Trump's early success with Evangelical voters has a lot to do with the increasing anti-establishment sentiment among Evangelicals and other conservative Republicans. However, Trump is not the only non-politician candidate that could attract the anti-establishment voters.

"I have a daily radio program and I have people calling in, which gives me a good pulse of where the nation is and Evangelicals in particular. They are just sick and tired of politics as usual and the typical Republicans who will campaign on one thing and then when they get into office, they don't deliver," Perkins said. "They are tired of compromise. I think that is reflected in the fact that those who are doing the best right now in the Republican lineup are the non-political candidates. You got Trump, [Ben] Carson and [Carly] Fiorina."

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/trump-declines-values-voter-summit-not-interested-in-talking-to-evangelicals-tony-perkins-says-145023/#oiprulC3ik2Q0Vc1.99

A number of Republican presidential candidates took swipes at Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, during their speeches at the Values Voter Summit upon hearing Friday morning's news that Boehner will resign from office.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio said it was "time to turn the page" on the era of John Boehner's tenure of Speaker of the U.S. House at the Values Voter Summit in Washington D.C. Friday, noting that politicians are more "out of touch" than ever.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz, who has perhaps sparred with GOP leadership on Capitol Hill the most, seemed to delight even more in the news of Boehner's resignation. Cruz credited those assembled with helping to oust the Speaker of the House.

"You want to know how much each of you terrify Washington?," asked Cruz."Yesterday, John Boehner was speaker of the House. Y'all come to town, and somehow that changes. My own request is can you come more often?"

Cruz called on Republicans in Congress to "stand up and honor the commitments that we made to the American people."

"There's a frustration across this country," he added. "It's not complicated to understand why. Every election Republicans promise to fight for American principles, and then the day after the election we come to Washington and we don't fight for any of the principles we said we'd fight for."

Both Ted Cruz and Rick Santorum vowed prosecution of Planned Parenthood if elected to the presidency.

In a statement shared with the Christian Post, Tony Perkins called for more conservative leadership and action for the next Republican House Speaker.

"American voters who put the Republican Party into the majority have grown weary of GOP leaders running into these political battles waving a white flag," Perkins declared.

"If Republicans will not fight to end taxpayer funding for an organization that is trafficking in baby body parts, and possibly infanticide, what will they fight for?

"We welcome Republican leadership that understands that some values, like life, religious liberty and national defense are worth fighting for — no matter what," concluded Perkins.

Former Governor Mike Huckabee joked that Boehner resigned after a meeting with Pope Francis, saying the next step needs to be "orchestrating a meeting" with Pope Francis and President Obama.

Huckabee expressed disappointment with Republicans on Capitol Hill, saying that he had "wasted his time" campaigning for a Republican majority in 37 states.

"They are not doing anything differently in the majority than they did in the minority," he declared.

Read more at http://www.christianpost.com/news/republican-presidential-candidates-slam-speaker-boehner-after-resignation-news-at-values-voter-summit-146207/#12og1IOq2cKXmrFJ.99

The Republican frontrunner has been engaged in a war of words with the Florida senator in recent days. Trump has criticized Rubio for missing votes in the Senate, and the Florida senator went after Trump as a “touchy and insecure guy” who “can’t have more than a 10-second soundbite on any key issue”.

Trump made sure to cover issues important to many conservative evangelical voters. Religious freedom is one of their key talking points these days,and Trump observed, "freedom of religion, so important." He emphasized his love of Christmas. "I love Christmas. I love Christmas," he declared as the audience applauded, assuring them that he would bring back the phrase "Merry Christmas" if elected president. The crowd also cheered his promises to negotiate a better deal with Iran and be "the greatest jobs president that God ever created.”

Trump lost the audience, however, when he went after one of their favorites, presidential candidate Marco Rubio, who has recently climbed in the polls and who spoke to the group earlier in the day. “You have this clown, Marco Rubio," Trump said, and the audience booed loudly. Trump persisted, chiding the Florida senator for abandoning his effort to promote comprehensive immigration reform once his poll number began to fall. "If you believe in something, you have to be true to yourself," said Trump.

Polls show Trump leading among evangelical voters—a fact he brought up several times during his speech. But that support could be thin, especially given his personal history and his past stance in favor of abortion rights. Even though he said his favorite book is the Bible, Trump, a Presbyterian, has refused to name his favorite passage. "The Bible means a lot to me, but I don't want to get into specifics," he said last month. And, of course, he's been married three times.

Trump turned down the initial invitation to the Values Voter Summit, and Tony Perkins, the head of the group hosting the event, responded with some tough words. He saidTrump's absence sent a "message to evangelicals and values voters that he wants their support, but he is not really interested in having a conversation with them." But Friday Trump was all about praising evangelicals. "You're special people," he said. "And I love you all."

WASHINGTON (The Borowitz Report)—Brain surgeons, long burdened with the onerous reputation of being among the smartest people in the world, are expressing relief that the Republican Presidential candidate Ben Carson is shattering that stereotype once and for all.

In interviews with brain surgeons across the country, the doctors revealed the enormous pressure they felt to live up to their profession’s inflated renown for intelligence before Carson entered the race.

“When people found out I was a brain surgeon they would always assume I was some kind of a genius,” said Harland Dorrinson, a neurosurgeon in Toledo, Ohio. “Now they are beginning to understand that you can know a lot about brain surgery and virtually nothing about anything else.”

But what really concerns me is what Trump did say, and it has to be one of the worst, most ambiguous, non-substantive answers I've heard in a while: "A lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there, we're going to be looking at that and plenty of other things."

To be sure, Trump has already distinguished himself with his non-answers to direct questions, in particular when it comes to the Bible.

To paraphrase: "Mr. Trump, since you say that the Bible is your favorite book by far, what's your favorite verse?"

"I can't give you one. It's too personal."

"Can you tell us which you prefer more, the Old Testament or the New Testament?"

"Same." (This was beyond classic to the point of being pathetic. "Same"? How about saying what you like best about each one? And could it be that if he dared say, "Old Testament" or "New Testament" he would have been asked why?)

His exact words were, "There's so many things that you can learn from it [the Bible]. Proverbs, the chapter 'never bend to envy.' I've had that thing all of my life where people are bending to envy."

Well, at least he knows that Proverbs is in the Bible, although his reason for liking this non-existent verse is curious, to say the least. (Can you imagine saying, "My favorite verse is, 'You shall not steal,' since all of my life, people have tried to steal from me"?)

But getting back to his controversial answer last week, let's look at it carefully: "A lot of people are saying that and a lot of people are saying that bad things are happening out there, we're going to be looking at that and plenty of other things."

It seemed like a powerful counterpoint to the perception of Donald Trump as intolerant: A hundred black ministers and religious leaders would endorse him at his offices in Manhattan, vouching for his sensitivity and broad-mindedness.

But within hours of the announcement a few days ago, furious backtracking, denials and finger-pointing were underway.

By Monday afternoon, the supposed declaration of support from a cross-section of African-Americans seemed to crumble as several pastors insisted they had never agreed to attend or back Mr. Trump. In the end, his political debut with black leaders was refashioned into a private meeting with a smaller group that played down talk of endorsements.

A few of those who showed up sounded uncomfortable. “It appears as if he’s a possible racist based upon some of the things he said about black America,” said Brehon Hall, a preacher from Toledo, Ohio, as he headed into the meeting at Trump Tower.

Viewed through modern eyes, it seems extraordinary that it took the Catholic church nearly two millennia to comprehensively condemn slavery.

After centuries of grappling with the issue, including attempts to distinguish between just and unjust enslavement of human beings, the Catholic church gave a full denunciation of slavery in the 1965 Vatican II document Guadium et Spes (Pastoral Constitution on the Church in the Modern World).

The Catholic church is a slow-moving beast, especially when it comes to social and economic reforms. Fifty years after Vatican II, the Church announced just this week that it would slavery-proof its supply chains.

Australian Cardinal George Pell, Prefect of the Holy See Secretariat of the Economy, confirmed in a keynote speech at an international financial conference in Rome this week that the Vatican would join some 400 companies in eradicating the use of forced labor from suppliers. Cardinal Pell not only signed the Church up to the anti-slavery campaign, but also provided his assessment of the current global “economic malaise” and offered what he described as a “Catholic contribution” to improving the global economy.

Pell’s speech was odd, but it was also revealing. Odd because Pell did not offer a coherent and systematic assessment grounded in Catholic social thought (and these exist) of how to achieve a fair and just economy. Rather he provided a selective history of Catholic economic teachings and a disjointed commentary that borrowed from both the Occupy Movement and Margaret Thatcher. Maybe that’s the best we can expect from a man whose boss is an Argentinean socialist, and whose good friend is Tony Abbott. Pell straddled the fence: he condemned CEOs who earn large bonuses as the “undeserving rich” who pay too little tax, but also took to task nations who accumulated debt and political constituencies that won’t embrace sacrifices.

Donald Trump is now the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, despite the efforts of his strongest opponents — evangelical Christians.

Trump has already been a disaster for the Republican Party, essentially dismantling the Reagan coalition and undermining its efforts to retain control of Congress. A Trump presidency would be a disaster for the entire nation, given that he is entirely unfit, in character and experience, to be president.

For those reasons, it's important to set straight the historical record — evangelicals led the opposition to Trump.

This might come as a surprise to some, given Trump's oft-repeated claim that he's "winning the evangelicals."

"Tonight I see I won with the evangelicals, the evangelical vote was for Trump," he claimed in Tuesday night's victory speech.

True evangelicals — the evangelicals who participate in the work of the Church — are among the least likely to support Trump.

That same CNN poll, for instance, showed that only 32 percent of those who attend religious services more than once a week voted for Trump. Trump's strongest support came from those who attend religious services "a few times a year" or "never."

Even on the self-identification question, non-evangelicals supported Trump at a higher rate (57 percent) than evangelicals.

Additionally:

According to an April PRRI study, Trump's unfavorability among white evangelicals increased 11 points from January to April, from 44 percent to 55 percent.

A September Gallup poll found that highly religious Republicans don't like Trump, only 22 percent said they were favorable.

And, analysis of an American National Election Pilot study found that Trump had the least support from evangelicals who regularly attend church and don't hold racist views. His strongest support was from evangelicals who aren't active in church and do hold racist views (EINO's, in other words).

Among conservative advocacy group leaders and opinion journalists, many of Trump's most outspoken critics have been evangelicals.

In December, a group of about 50 social conservative activists, mostly evangelical, met to decide which candidate to support. They debated between Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, and decided on Cruz. Trump wasn't even part of the discussion. After that, many of them, such as Tony Perkins, president of Family Research Council and an evangelical, endorsed Cruz.

Russell Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention's Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, has also been an outspoken critic of Trump. In a September op-ed for The New York Times, he argued that supporting Trump would be a betrayal of evangelical values.

And in late February, the editors of The Christian Post, of which I am one of five, took the unusual step of writing an editorial denouncing Trump. CP had never taken a position on a political candidate before, but we thought the moment was too important to remain silent.

"As the most popular evangelical news website in the United States and the world, we feel compelled by our moral responsibility to our readers to make clear that Donald Trump does not represent the interests of evangelicals and would be a dangerous leader for our country," we wrote.

To be fair, there have been some evangelical Trump supporters (true evangelicals, not EINO's). Trump mentioned one of them last night.

"Jerry Falwell Jr., Liberty University, he is something," Trump said.

On that point, anti-Trump evangelicals agree — he is something.

Most true evangelicals look at Falwell or Pastor Robert Jeffress (Trump's only other high-profile evangelical supporter) with bewilderment. Why they, and a small minority of true evangelicals, would support Trump may forever remain a mystery.

But the bewildering evangelicals are few. Anti-Trump evangelicals are many.